Catwoman #83 (2000)

Inside the commissioner's office, Captain Li asks if there is any information about the situation at the Cinque Foundation Rehabilitative Center in his reports. Commissioner Gordon says that's out of their jurisdiction and expresses a distaste for private prisons. Crispus Allen interrupts to inform Gordon that an abandoned ambulance was found in the Hill with an injured driver, but the two passengers are missing--an injured prisoner and a guard. At the Cinque Center, Director Norsing and Captain Rosetti face off. He wants to end the riot by force, and when Norsing dismisses his plan out of hand, he says she hasn't done anything to end this mess. Norsing is waiting to hear from the board of directors, but they haven't contacted her yet. Norsing receives a phone call from Gordon, but when he asks, neither she nor anybody else can remember the name of the guard sent with the ambulance. They assume the guard was new. She does remember who the prisoner was--Catwoman. Gordon says something to her so offensive that Norsing spits out "Well, I never!" and slams the phone down. Gordon speculates to Li that Catwoman has taken the guard as a hostage, but Batman asks, "Are you sure about that?" from above. Gordon isn't, and when he calls Detective Montoya over, she tells them that the driver and the EMT were both injured and medical supplies were taken to treat a serious wound. She agrees with Gordon that Catwoman took the guard as a hostage, but Batman thinks that would be out of character for Catwoman. Gordon reminds him the riot started because Catwoman took a hostage. Batman finds the clues to a scavenger hunt written in a hand not Catwoman's. Li thinks she was trying to disguise her handwriting, but Montoya wonders why she would bother when they know it's hers. They are working through the clues when they receive word that the ambulance driver died. Batman insists Catwoman isn't a murderer, in spite of Gordon's doubts, and he wonders if maybe she is the hostage instead of the other way around. Harley Quinn has taken Catwoman to an apartment where she begins implanting suggestions in her head, using Catwoman's history with Batman to convince her that she wants to kill Batman and to use Gordon as bait in her trap. In LexCorp, Batman, Gordon, and Li find Ruben tied up and the alarm blaring. Ruben begins ranting about how "she" stole all his bowling equipment, now after she already took his... He cuts himself off, and when Gordon asks, he claims he meant the Crystal Spire. Batman asks whether it was the same woman, and Ruben has no definitive proof. On the wall they find a spray painted note reading "Hail hail the gangs are all here!" Montoya makes the connection to when the Demonz and the Loboys were involved in a turf war during No Man's Land. Gordon and Montoya go to the battleground, and they find a man who was just calling the police about the woman who stole his ladder. The man quotes the thief as saying, "Tell Gordon I'm taking my case to a higher court." Batman thinks it's unlike Catwoman to make a joke that bad, but Gordon says there's no one else it could be. They follow the last clue to the courthouse where Two-Face put Gordon on trial. They find a doll of Gordon's second wife Sarah Essen, who was murdered during No Man's Land. Gordon sends Montoya home, and he and Batman return to Gotham Central. Batman continues to insist this can't be Catwoman, who wasn't in Gotham for No Man's Land except when he sent her there briefly on a mission and couldn't know about Gordon's self-styled failures. Gordon asks Batman to stay out of this confrontation, not because he doubts Batman's commitment but because he needs to do this alone. They shake hands. Gordon goes downstairs into the basement where Sarah was shot and finds a chalk outline of Sarah's body with a Watchmen-style smiley face for a head. Gordon breaks down crying. Catwoman points a machine gun at Gordon's head. Gordon sees that blood is seeping through the bandage around her neck, and he offers to get her medical attention in exchange for the safety of her hostage. Harley Quinn then reveals herself and shows that she's no hostage.